My Rhinoplasty Experience – Oklahoma City, OK

I have been researching the rhinoplasty procedure...

16 Aug 2013

1 month pre

I have been researching the rhinoplasty procedure for months now. Shopping around and talking to 4 different surgeons was a very important part of this process. Two of the four surgeons were ruled out because of lack of before and after pics as well as just not connecting with me as the other two did. I never would have realized this if I hadn't seen so many. The cost of the two surgeons ranged from $5800 to $7800, so I put the cost factor aside as $2000 should not play a factor in my choice, I want a great outcome.

The final decision came down to how the surgeon planned to perform the procedure as they had very different plans. One was planning to use grafts and the other was planning to a cephalic trim. I studied both procedures, looked at photo from the different techniques, and asked the opinions of other doctors here on RealSelf. This really helped me feel more confident about making the decision on the best technique. I decided on the cephalic trim instead of the grafting because I liked the look that it gave for people with my type of nose verses the grafting procedure.

The other thing that helped me decide between the two surgeons was I sent a simple question by email to the grafting surgeon, he just ignored my question and never responded its been almost two weeks now. That gave me a clue of how much he cared. Now I am moving forward with the other doctor and I had already decided that I liked his plan better, so I hope it will all work out well! I hope sharing my experience will help others to make informed decisions as well. All of the doctors mentioned that most people just go and tell them to do the procedure without even questioning their plans. I hope sharing my experience will help others to make informed decisions as well. I will keep you posted on the details and how it all goes.

Recovery days 1-3

20 Oct 2013

27 days post

I had my surgery 3 days ago and I think things are going relatively well. The first day I felt great, very little swelling and no bruising. The second day was brutal. I got virtually no sleep because of dry mouth and I woke up with a severe sore throat. On top of the sore throat I felt like I had been in a car accident, my entire body hurt from head to toe. At first my face was still looking good very little swelling and no bruising. Then in the late afternoon, after a 45 min nap my face got really swollen. My entire face! The eye area was the worst. I was in quite a bit of pain so I just pushed through it till bedtime. I picked up some Biotene -Oral Balance to help with the dry mouth and slept really well that night. When I woke up this morning I felt much better than I had felt the day prior, but my face was super swollen. My cast ended up falling off because of the swelling. I drank lots of water and took a relaxing walk this afternoon. The swelling is starting to subside this evening and I am hopeful things will continue to go well for me. Its been an interesting experience to say the least. Fortunately, my doctor gave me his cell number and was there to help me all weekend. He was so nice about answering my questions and helping me out. That has been invaluable to me!

Recovery Days 4-7

26 Oct 2013

1 month post

My cast is off and everything looks straight and symmetrical, nostrils are even too. I have been feeling very tired and sort of sick over the past few days. Just feeling fevered (but no fever), exhaustion, congestion, and pain around the incisions. I stopped the pain meds on day 4 and went to ibuprofen. It seems to help, but there is still a lot of pain and pressure. At this point the swelling is hard to take! My face looks weird and distorted because of the swelling all over. I started taking Turmeric & Bromelain to help with the swelling yesterday, so we will have to see how it goes. It is hard looking at mysql in the mirror because I look so different. I think its because of the swelling in my face and around my mouth and eyes. My nose looks pretty good I think it will look nice once the swelling goes down. Its hard to judge if I like it or not because its so swollen. I know it can take a very long time to see a final result, so I'm waiting (not so patiently) at this point. I just hope I look like myself again soon. I think the hardest part at this point is waiting for the swelling to go down.